Chapter 6: Silver Bowls, Silver Spoons, Silver Chopsticks

She rummaged through the safe—three cards and several bundles of banknotes. Even if there were millions on the cards, they were useless here.

There were a few platinum chains, but unfortunately, none were silver. She wasn’t sure if they could be exchanged for cash.

Suddenly, Song Jinxiu remembered she had several sets of silver tableware.

Hurrying into the kitchen, she opened the cabinet. Sure enough, three sets of silver tableware were still unopened in their boxes.

Silver bowls, silver spoons, silver chopsticks—the silver bowls had exquisite patterns. Taking them to a pawnshop or silver shop should fetch some money. If that failed, melting them down could at least serve as silver bullion.

As for how to explain it?

If she couldn’t explain it clearly, then there was no need to explain at all. He couldn’t afford to hesitate and risk his big brother’s life.

Song Chunsheng watched as his younger sister closed the door, thinking she was crying inside out of sadness and anger.

“Sanya, no, Jinxiu, I’m fine. Just rest for a couple of days, and you’ll see. Come out soon, okay? This courtyard still needs you to take care of it. I won’t do any work today, alright?”

His sister didn’t respond. Song Chunsheng leaned against the wall and sat down, bending over to cover his face with his hands, tears streaming uncontrollably.

At sixteen or seventeen, he was still just a child. He was only pretending to be strong to hide his helplessness.

He truly wanted to have a good cry.

But he was the eldest brother. After finally bringing his sisters away from that home, they still had to survive. He couldn’t afford to cry.

He wiped his tears with his sleeve and forced a smile at his little brother, who was watching him anxiously.

“Qiusheng, don’t cry. I’ll rest for a while. Can you go call big sister to open the door?”

Qiusheng pressed his lips tightly, clutching his brother’s shirt collar, sobbing quietly.

Song Jinxiu stepped out of the room, seeing her big brother’s eyes, clearly red from crying, and couldn’t bring herself to scold him.

She sighed, then shoved the unpacked silver bowls, spoons, and chopsticks into her brother’s hand.

“Big Brother, how much do you think this can sell for?”

Song Chunsheng was so startled his hand trembled, nearly dropping the bowl.

“Where—where did you get this?”

“I dug up a ginseng root in the mountains last year and traded it for these,” Song Jinxiu lied smoothly.

“Huh? Why didn’t I know about this?” Song Chunsheng was skeptical but willing to believe it.

“I hid them secretly. Otherwise, with Grandma the way she is, do you think we could have kept anything?”

That made sense. Song Chunsheng couldn’t help but look at his sister with newfound respect.

She was smart—she knew to stash away secret savings early on. Meanwhile, he had been foolish, only realizing their father was unreliable after Mother was cast aside.

Song Chunsheng studied the items in his hands, his unease growing with every glance.

They were so finely crafted, so beautiful—these had to be worth a good sum. Just how big was the ginseng his sister had traded for them?

Just then, the Grandfather Lizheng’s loud voice called out from the gate.

“Chunsheng! Chunsheng?”

Startled, Song Chunsheng hurriedly shoved the silver bowl, spoon, and chopsticks back into his sister’s arms.

“Quick, hide them!”

That bowl was far too conspicuous. No one could see it.

Song Jinxiu quickly took them and wrapped them tightly into the front of her clothing.

“Chunsheng, is your leg badly hurt? Wuya was crying her eyes out like a little water sprite. Let me take a look, let me see.”

The Grandfater Lizheng strode into the Courtyard with large steps, followed by a group of villagers.

Just a while ago, the grandfather Lizheng had run into Wuya in the village. The child was flustered, running from house to house asking if anyone had a cart she could borrow.

He stopped her to ask what was going on, and the girl broke down sobbing, unable to catch her breath. It took a long time before she managed to explain that she needed the cart to take her Big Brother to have his leg looked at.

The grandfather Lizheng had been the one to help these children break free from the old Song family. Their well-being was proof that he had done the right thing. If something were to go wrong now, wouldn’t that shrew from the Song family, Shitou’s wife, use it to wag her tongue at him for the rest of his life?

So the grandfather Lizheng had come in a hurry to see what was really going on.

“Grandpa Lizheng —”

Song Chunsheng greeted them while trying to move his leg with a helpless grimace.

One look at his leg, and the grandfather Lizheng felt a chill run through him.

That leg… it didn’t look good.

“This looks like damage to the tendons or bone. Chunsheng, what did you do yesterday? Don’t tell me—was it your father who kicked you and broke it?”

Of course it was his father.

At the time, he had been running purely on determination, focused only on protecting his sister. When his father kicked him, he didn’t even register the pain.

Later, when the grandfather Lizheng stepped in to sever their ties with the old Song family, he had kept himself going on sheer willpower. The pain in his leg—he had forced himself to ignore it.

It wasn’t just his leg that hurt—his whole body ached, so much that he had gone numb.

Even now, his leg still felt numb. There was a dull ache, yes, but it wasn’t unbearable.

What he didn’t realize was that because it didn’t hurt sharply, the injury was actually worse.

“Oh heavens, how did his leg end up like this? That Sanzhu is heartless—how can anyone beat a child like that?”

“If he weren’t so cruel, would these children have gone as far as to sever ties with him?”

“True enough. People don’t abandon their parents unless they’re truly driven to the edge.”

“Poor thing. Chunsheng used to be such a good child. Always polite, always greeted people with a smile. So sweet and well-mannered. Look at him now, worn down like this…”

“Sigh! If you ask me, when there’s a stepmother, there’s always a stepfather too. Back when Chunsheng’s real mother was alive, Sanzhu never beat the children like this.”

The villagers all began talking at once, their voices overlapping in a chorus of chatter.

Some spoke with sympathy, while others were simply there for the spectacle.

The grandfather Lizheng frowned as he examined Chunsheng’s leg, even pressing down on it with his hand. After a moment, he shook his head.

“The physician in town probably won’t do. You’ll need to go to the county. Wuya, run again and tell your Brother Fuquan to bring the ox cart.”

At those words, Song Jinxiu finally let out a breath of relief.

Taking the ox cart to the county would be much faster than dragging that clumsy pushcart herself.

Before long, Song Fuquan arrived with the ox cart. Knowing it was for Chunsheng’s injured leg, he had even laid down a straw mat for comfort.

With everyone helping, they carefully lifted Chunsheng into the cart.

Song Jinxiu turned and glanced at her younger sister and little brother.

Her younger sister seemed fine, but her little brother…

The boy’s eyes were full of fear and unease.

Leaving the two of them at home in this desolate Courtyard, with venomous insects like scorpions still lurking inside the house—she simply couldn’t feel at ease.

Forget it. There was enough space in the ox cart. They would all go together.

The grandfather Lizheng reached into his sleeve and pulled out a tael of broken silver.

“Chunsheng, take this money. It might not be enough, but at least get your leg looked at first. As for the rest, Grandpa will find another way.”

Tears welled up in Song Chunsheng’s eyes as he shook his head and tried to decline.

“Grandfather Lizheng, I know you’ve always looked after us, but I can’t take this silver. I have—I’ve got ten copper coins.”

He wanted to say they had silver—weren’t the silver bowl, spoon, and chopsticks all money? But that was something he couldn’t speak of aloud.

So in the end, all he could admit was that he had ten copper coins.

“Silly Chunsheng, what can ten copper coins do, child?”

The  Grandfather Lizheng’s heart ached at those words. Ten copper coins… that was all they had?

He shoved the silver into Chunsheng’s arms despite his protests, then quickly waved his hand, urging his grandson to hurry and drive the cart away.

If they didn’t leave soon, he was going to cry.

“Wuwuwu… poor child…”

The grandfather Lizheng managed to hold back his tears, but one of the women standing behind him couldn’t.

She had seen it all, and the sight moved her to sob.

Ten copper coins—was that truly all these children owned in the world?

“That damned Sanzhu! Beating his son like that… he doesn’t deserve to be called a father!”

“Sigh, maybe Sanzhu just has a bad temper and didn’t know his own strength,” someone muttered.

The speaker was Song Dashí’s nephew—Song Shizhu, who was also Song Sanzhu’s paternal cousin.

Their family had been at the market the day before. When they returned and heard that Chunsheng and his siblings had severed ties with the family, they were stunned.

Originally, he had planned to go to his uncle’s house and ask what on earth had happened. After all, having someone in the clan publicly cut ties like this—didn’t that bring shame to their whole branch?

But as soon as he arrived at the door of his uncle’s house, he heard his aunt’s booming voice inside, cursing up a storm.

She was yelling that Chunsheng was an ungrateful wretch, that Sanya was a jinx no one wanted, and even cursing Sanzhu—asking why he hadn’t just beaten that disgraceful thing to death.

From what he could gather, it seemed they’d failed to sell Sanya, which meant a lost profit. His aunt was livid and taking it out on everyone in the Courtyard, spewing venom at whoever crossed her path.